Friday, January 08, 2010

I've been looking at possible yarn colors for a season 12 Doctor Who Scarf for a few years now and could never decide for various reasons...

1. Most of the challenge was trying to find all the colors from the same brand. I know I could probably mix & match, but I thought the scarf would be more consistent if made from the same yarn.

2. The next thing was trying to keep the total cost way below $100. I was researching possible 100% wool yarns that would have made the cost of this scarf above $70. I don't know if I want to spend that much on a scarf that I can't really wear. I knew I could probably find the colors in acrylic yarn, but I didn't want acrylic. No, I'm not a yarn snob. There is a time and place for acrylic yarns and I do use them. I just feel that this scarf should be made with 100% wool.

3. I was in no great hurry to get started on this since it is such a loooooooong and booooooring project. Really. Nearly 64,000 stitches in garter stitch. Mind numbing! There are 1062 rows in this scarf, and I'm thinking of casting on 60 stitches (so it won't be too wide) --> 63,840 stitches total.

SEASON 12 OR SEASON 18?

The colors you see here are for the Season 12 scarf (Robot, Sontaran Experiment). I'll admit that I don't see myself wearing this color combo. I'm thinking the red/purple Season 18 (Leisure Hive) scarf colors suit me better. Well, I picked up the Season 12 colors so I'll knit that one first.

Next question is whether I'll ever wear this scarf. Can you imagine me at 1.53 m tall wearing a scarf that is 4.5 m to 5 m long ??? And I'd like to avoid pulling an Isadora Duncan...

I may end up gifting this to a Time Lord who can wear the scarf better than I can. Unfortunately, I'm quite positive the scarf will not be completed before Gallifrey One.

THE COLORS

I picked up 2 to 4 balls of these colors. I hope I have enough of each color to complete the scarf. In retrospect, I probably should have picked up 4 balls of each color just to be safe.

Chocolate Truffle, 4 skeins

Crimson, 4 skeins

Malt Heather, 4 skeins

Mayan Gold, 2 skeins

Oxford Grey Heather, 4 skeins

Plum Wine, 2 skeins

Tapenade, 4 skeins

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In December, we went down to San Diego for a few days to take the Little One to the zoo there. It's such a nice zoo, it makes the one in San Francisco feel like a ghetto. This zoo is HUGE! We went 2 days and still did not see everything. We'll have to visit the Wild Animal Park next time we head down there.

It was a long 12 hour drive to SD. I think the portable DVD player we brought with us was a life saver during that long stretch of nothingness along I-5. The Little One watched Happy Feet on the way there (thanks Vicki for the DVD!) and The Wiggles Live Hot Potatoes on the way back. On the way to SD, we were unfortunate to have made it over the hills into the (outer) Los Angeles area during evening rush hour. OMG, I will never complain about Bay Area traffic again. I don't know how people live with SoCal traffic.

While we were down there, we met up with some friends for dinner at Buca di Beppo in Mira Mesa. They have a daughter who is the same age as the Little One and they hit it off immediately. Well, I'd more accurately describe it as them feeding off each other. They were a happy boisterous pair, it was a good thing this restaurant is kid friendly.

The Little One had a nice Christmas. One of her gifts was a big Dug. That's the dog from the movie Up. We saw the movie before we headed down to SD. I loved the movie. I was trying to find a big Kevin (the big colorful bird from the movie) but they didn't have any more at the Disney Store. Since they had a B1G1 free sale on all their stuffed toys, I also picked up a big Tigger for her birthday in March.

We visited various Target Stores between home and SD, as they were perfect places for comfort stops and a little food. My local Target used to stock the Little One's favorite tea, Celestial Seasonings Sweet Coconut Thai Chai (it's decaf). However they have stopped carrying this tea after they knocked down and rebuilt the store. It's not sold at the next nearest Target or my 2 local supermarket chains. I was pleasantly surprised to find this tea at the Target store in Anaheim. Well that's quite a long distance from home, so I picked up 3 boxes while I was there.

I love Target stores, however I cannot recommend stopping by the store in Commerce. It's quite a distance away from the freeway (or maybe it seemed longer in the dark) and it is the only Target store I have seen with graffiti in the bathroom. There's even graffiti all over the diaper change station! Other Target stores are usually much nicer than this.

I got around to rewinding Vicki's hank of yarn into a ball. I had to do it by hand since I do not own a swift & ball winder. It's a good thing this is thick yarn. I'll be making a pair of mitts for Vicki using this yarn. I just hope there is enough yarn to make a pair. I've already got a couple of ideas for the design. Besides the one I mentioned earlier, I'm also kicking around the idea of a cable stitch that has a 4 row repeat so that I'll have more options for when to stop knitting the mitt. We'll see. I still need to figure out whether I have the correct size needles for this yarn. I'm not accustomed to knitting with thicker yarns.

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I grew up in SoCal and love the SD zoo. The animals are wonderful and most of the employees were great. I am glad you enjoyed the trip.When DD2 wanted a Dr. Who scarf, we agreed that the colors did not have to match the show, but the long boring scarf turned out great.Happy New Year

Can't wait to see the start of the scarf! The colors look just right.I have always wanted to go to the San Diego Zoo. I hear it is awesome.I love Target as well but some can be very Getto same as Walmart.

That scarf will be quite the project, you have such great patience (all your cable scarfs) and would be a perfect knit for watching TV. Too bad about not getting it done in time for the event, can you imagine how many people would be adoring that scarf!

Why not make the DW scarf proportionally shorter, to suit you, maybe only 10ft long? Glad to know I have another DW fan in my circle of friends; I've been watching since Tom was the new Doctor. Did you know that he's been voicing some DW tales on BBC4 radio? Don't have the link anywhere handy, but it should show up if you Google for it.

Glad to know you're well and happy, and next time you head this far south, LMK; I'll drive over to the coast area to meet you.

CatBookMom, If I recall correctly, you were having blog/blogger issues a few years back too. Sorry, I'm only seeing your comment now since I've been out of the knitting loop for over a year (partly due to the personal reasons I may have mentioned to you before). It's been such a long time since I logged in to Blogger that I was pleasantly surprised it remembered me and let me in.

I haven't had a chance to start the DW scarf yet. However while searching for some yarn for a possible teacher gift (fingerless mitts), I did find the box where this yarn was hiding. Hoping to get back into knitting. The Little One is "nagging" about her rainbow socks so I think I should get that one done first LOL.

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